Known as the Shabiha, or "Ghosts" in Arabic, the group wears black t-shirts with combat trousers and wields AK-47s and machetes.

The foot soldiers are paid a relative fortune of about $200 per day to enter towns after the army has stopped shelling to "terrorize the civilian population and conduct ethnic cleansing," according to a Daily Mail source.

"They were like monsters... [said Dr. Mousab Azzawi, who runs the Syrian Network for Human Rights from London but had treated some of the Shabiha in Latakia]. "They had huge muscles, big bellies, big beards. They were all very tall and frightening, and took steroids to pump up their bodies.

"I had to talk to them like children as they like people with low intelligence. But t hat is what makes them so terrifying — the combination of strength and blind allegiance to the regime."

"They are fueled by this belief that they are fighting for their survival," said Dr. Azzawi. "Assad tells them that they must defend the government or else they will be destroyed; it's kill, or be killed... They are treated like animals, and manipulated by their bosses to carry out these murders. They are unstoppable."

The vast majority of the country's top intelligence and military officers adhere to the mysterious Alawite faith while the Shabiha, when called upon, ruthlessly protects the regime without directly associating themselves with the government as they dress in civilian clothes and wear white tennis shoes instead of black military boots.

"If they know the whole area is against the regime they have no problem killing everybody," Selma told the Telegraph. "That is how it works."